You are excited and unvalidated
The idea feels obviously good and no one outside your head has confirmed it.
Courses
See what you would learn
Find out whether your idea solves a real problem before you bet on it.
A course for the stage between having an idea and committing to it. It covers identifying the assumptions the idea depends on, testing them with real people cheaply, and reading the results honestly.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I have a business idea and want to know whether it solves a real problem. Help me examine customer needs, alternatives, and the assumptions I should test before investing heavily.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
- Best for
- Business
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- Is this a side project, a potential company, or something inside your current employer?
- Have you talked to any potential customers yet?
- What would you need to see to decide to go ahead, or to stop?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You keep building instead of asking
Work on the product feels like progress; talking to customers feels like a delay.
You had an idea fail and do not know why
It seemed right and nobody bought, and you want to avoid repeating that.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06The problem, not the product
Starting from who has the problem and what they do about it today.
Assumptions that could kill it
Listing what must be true, and ranking by how uncertain and how fatal.
Talking to potential customers
Questions that reveal real behaviour instead of polite enthusiasm.
Small experiments
Landing pages, pre-orders, concierge versions: getting a real signal for little money.
Reading the results
Distinguishing interest from intent, and enthusiasm from evidence.
Go, change or stop
Deciding from what you learned, and what to test next.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Name the risky assumptions
Identify what has to be true for the idea to work, and which of those you do not know.
Test with real people
Run conversations and small experiments that produce evidence rather than encouragement.
Decide with the evidence
Recognise a signal to proceed, pivot or stop.
Ideas this course corrects
People will tell you if the idea is good
People are kind. Ask about their behaviour and their money, not their opinion of your idea.
You need a product to test demand
Most demand can be tested before anything is built. Building first is usually the expensive way to learn.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
A course for the stage between having an idea and committing to it. It covers identifying the assumptions the idea depends on, testing them with real people cheaply, and reading the results honestly. It sits under Business in the Work & ambitions part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I have a business idea and want to know whether it solves a real problem. Help me examine customer needs, alternatives, and the assumptions I should test before investing heavily.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.